The Collegium Carolinum is a serious scholarly society, mainly concerned with the study of the history of the lands that became Czechoslovakia in 1918. While the German population of those territories and the history of the First Czechoslovak Republic are its primary interests, this volume is a departure from both subjects. It deals with the history of the Jews in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia - the lands of the Bohemian crown.

Since the book presents the papers given at a conference it is in many aspects different from a comprehensive monograph on the conference's topic, a work still to be written. There must have been difficulties in arranging the conference and some of them are reflected in the volume. While some of the articles on early modern times deal with the same issues - sometimes contradicting each other and thus demonstrating interesting differences in the evaluation of sources - the coverage lessens towards the end of the existence of an organized Jewry in Czechoslovakia.

For the scholar interested in the economic and social position that Jewry enjoyed in Bohemia and Moravia, the first articles are of unsurpassed importance. There are fine distinctions between the situations in Bohemia and Moravia and the papers clearly demonstrate the way in which economic necessity and envy worked dialectically both to secure the Jewish position in Bohemia and to build up the reproaches that led to the mass expulsion during the reign of Maria Theresa.

Of special interest are two papers, one by Eila Hassenpflug-Elzholz dealing with the Bohemian and Moravian reaction to the Edict of Tolerance proclaimed by Emperor Joseph II in 1781-2, and the second not only commenting on but presenting in toto Jewish legends on the beginning of Bohemian Jewry. These traditions are valuable not as historical sources on the events they seem to recall, but as a means of insight into the self-description of the Jewish people in those lands. The latter article, by Ruth Gladstein-Kestenberg, will ensure that this volume becomes a standard reference work for students of historical myths and autostereotypes.

As far as the modern times are concerned, the impact of Jewish thought and activity on Czech economic development will remain a problematic field of study.